How Many Wise Men Visited Mary?

Who Was Present for Their Visit

This post answers two questions.

When the Wise Men Visited the Baby Yeshua

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How Many Wise Men Visited

Updated April 4, 2022 — Transferred to Medium November 19,2022

If you haven’t gathered by now, the questions are a bit leading and may be loaded. One might call them “trick questions”. If you have not already read the other related blogs, check out “Mary was a Bigamist” and “How Many Elephants were on Noach’s Ark**” (**not available to publish here, sorry). This blog is not intended to completely reform your belief, rather encourage improvement in how you read Scripture.

So, how many Wise Men visited?

I’ll bet you answered 3.

I’ll bet you’ve sung songs and performed in or watched plays with 3 Wise Men. I’ll bet your Western Evangelical church staged some form of a Nativity scene with a barn, animals, shepherds, Mary and Joseph, a baby Jesus, and THREE Wise Men.

(Note to self: idea for a future blog, the shepherds that watch the flocks by night are not boys or young teens. They would have been grown men capable of protecting the sheep at night.)

The funny thing about this visual image is that it is not even 200-years-old. This visage of the birth in Bethlehem comes from the opening of the book, Ben Hur, written by Lewis “Lew” Wallace, Major General of the Union Army during the Civil War. It was published and released in 1880 by Harper and Brothers. It was a best seller (and a couple of great movies).

I cannot say where Lew developed the idea of the visage of the birth, but I suspect he learned it from his pastor or some sincere — yet sincerely wrong — teacher. No matter when, where, or from whom, it is not how any of it happened — mostly.

Yes, the shepherds came to his birth and offered the first and best gift they could — they WORSHIPPED Him. This was the first gift Messiah received (well, His parents love and adoration notwithstanding).

The “barn” image is contextually inaccurate. In those days, a family would build a house on two levels. The lower level was where the animals were kept. This is the cow and/or goat(s) for milk, chickens, the donkey or horse for farming if they did that. This is not a “barn” as traditionally understood. Up the stairs from this lower area is the living residence of the family who owns the animals. It was all under the same roof and might not have even been separated by walls.

An alternative — and more defensible — translation for manger (Hebrew into Greek into English) is sukka, or the tent built for the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). This is the fall feast of YHVH during which the men live in tents to remember the 40-years in the wilderness. Women could and did stay with their men, but only the men were instructed to do so.

This is consistent then that Miriam would stay with her betrothed husband, Yoseph, in the sukka his family built for the festival — because there was not any more space for Miriam in the house.

And let’s face it, although WE know the truth about Miriam’s pregnancy, I doubt Yoseph’s family was completely convinced. They may have shown Miriam a bit of hostility, deliberately filling the house before she and Yoseph arrived so that they would not be forced to share space with a girl that was pregnant with “another man’s” baby.

Thieving Shepherds…

Not to mention, when the shepherds visit, there is no mention of animals. In fact, there is no mention of any animals through the entire story — except for the sheep left behind in the fields. There is no note that the shepherds brought a gift lamb for the family — and because the sheep would not have belonged to the shepherds watching the sheep, they would have been stealing to have brought a gift lamb — regardless of the recipient.

Not the type of gift to bring the savior of all mankind, don’t you think?

Either way, the tent or the lower portion of the house (where the animals may have been kept) are the culturally correct assumptions to be made of the location where Messiah’s birth occurred. As for the timing of His birth, there is not a single scholar of Biblical history, including most Jewish teachers, that do not generally agree Messiah was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the 15th of Tishri (or during this Festival), the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. (His cousin Yochanan ben Zachariah (John the Baptizer) was born at Passover). This would be representative of the latter half of September most years.

Scripture is clear, the shepherds came — likely in the company of some Heavenly Host — to visit and worship the newborn King, the baby Yeshua. There is no mention of Wise Men or animals. The book of Matthew does not recount the actual birth, so we must go to Luke. (Neither Mark nor John recount anything prior to the start of His ministry in His thirtieth year.)

Luke says this:

Luke 2:8–29 — And in the same country there were shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And look, a messenger of יהוה stood before them, and the esteem of יהוה shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. And the messenger said to them, “Do not be afraid, for look, I bring you good news of great joy which shall be to all people. “Because there was born to you today in the city of Dawiḏ a Saviour, who is Messiah, the Master. “And this is the sign to you: You shall find a baby wrapped up, lying in a feeding trough.” And suddenly there was with the messenger a crowd of the heavenly host praising Elohim and saying, Esteem to Elohim in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased! And it came to be, when the messengers had gone away from them into the heaven, that the shepherds said to each other, “Indeed, let us go to Bĕyth Leḥem and see this matter that has taken place, which the Master has made known to us.” And they came in haste and found Miryam and Yosĕph, and the baby lying in a feeding trough. And having seen, they made known the matter which was spoken to them concerning the child. And all those who heard marvelled at what the shepherds said to them. But Miryam kept all these matters, considering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, boasting and praising Elohim for all they had heard and seen, as it was spoken to them.

Quite self-explanatory, right? Shepherds visit proclaiming the news they had heard, worshipped the baby. Miriam treasured their visit in her heart. Matthew is silent on this event.

Luke moves on to his circumcision on the 8th day (Abrahamic Covenant — circumcision) and Torah (8th day) principles), the prophecy of the man on whom was “the Holy Spirit” (Luke 2:26, long before Acts 2, right? Strange…), and the testimony of Anna. Then this curious verse in the KJV (different words, but others also):

Luke 2:39 — And when they had accomplished all matters according to the Torah of יהוה, they returned to Galil, to their city Natsareth.

He begins to grow. Luke 2:41 moves right on to His Bar Mitzvoh in his thirteenth year (when He was 12) in Jerusalem.

No Wise Men in Luke 2 at all, but it does establish that they have returned to Nazareth, in the Galilee region — NOT — escaped to Egypt.

Huh…

So, over to Matthew

As I mentioned, Matthew does not cover the birth. But Matthew 2 begins like this:

Matthew 2:1–6 — And יהושע having been born in Bĕyth Leḥem of Yehuḏah in the days of Herodes the sovereign, see, Magi from the east came to Yerushalayim, saying, “Where is He who has been born Sovereign of the Yehuḏim? For we saw His star in the East and have come to do reverence to Him.” And Herodes the sovereign, having heard, was troubled, and all Yerushalayim with him. And having gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. And they said to him, “In Bĕyth Leḥem of Yehuḏah, for thus it has been written by the prophet, “But you, Bĕyth Leḥem, in the land of Yehuḏah, you are by no means least among the rulers of Yehuḏah, for out of you shall come a Ruler who shall shepherd My people Yisra’ĕl. ‘ “ <Mic 5:2>

Huh?

When Yeshua was born, these men saw the star and began their trip to Jerusalem. They came first to the King because they were foreign dignitaries — diplomats, if you will — and checked in first with the ruler.

How often do diplomats travel through dangerously wild and thief and marauder infested territory by themselves?

NEVER!

Wise men traveling alone? What, aren’t they supposed to be smart wise men?

This was a massive diplomatic entourage of soldiers, horses, camels, chariots, and the entire group of soothsayers — magi — from their land. Three singular men could have entered Jerusalem and avoided checking in with the king (assuming they had even safely passed through the desert), but a massive entourage doesn’t slip in unnoticed.

Here, we have established their arrival, but they are now sent on their way from Jerusalem. Matthew continues with the key to this entire question:

Matthew 2:9 — And having heard the sovereign, they went. And see, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was. And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy…

These were descendants of the priesthood started by Daniel in Babylon and Persia. These men had been searching for the heavenly signs of the arrival of Messiah for about 400 years.

… And coming into the house, they saw the Child with Miryam His mother, and fell down and did reverence to Him…

Once again, their first gift was not gold, frankincense, or myrrh, but praise and worship

… and opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Their treasures, Matthew does not say three gifts, but rather implies a vast number or great amount of, from which these gifts included: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Alright, three specified gifts, right?

WRONG!

Four! Again, their first gift was worship and honor of Messiah. They knew who He was and all that He represented. They knew from studying Daniel and the other Hebrew prophets that this young child was — in fact — the physical manifestation of Elohim on earth. The promised coming of the Messiah from Deuteronomy 18.

So, where is Yoseph? Not there.

The animals? There are none.

The shepherds? None, again.

The manger? What manger? There are no animals and they are inside the house.

In fact, where in the Matthew text does it say “three wise men”?

Matthew does not mention any of these things.

Immediately after this encounter and the receiving of extremely valuable gifts, Yoseph is given a vision to escape with the child and His mother to Egypt; and Herod orders the execution of ALL babies “in their second year.” The NASB translates this as, “…from two years old and under…”

Question:

Why would he order the execution of any baby older than a few months if the wise men visited on the night He was born?

The Hebrew text of Matthew clearly states, in accordance with Hebrew (and Eastern) methods of measuring age, …in the second year… This means more than one full year of age, but having not reached their second birth anniversary. This means “1-year-olds” by Western reckoning.

But here is the clincher:

Back to Luke:

Luke 2:21–24 — And when eight days were completed for Him to be circumcised, His Name was called יהושע, the Name given by the messenger before He was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her cleansing according to the Torah of Mosheh were completed, they brought Him to Yerushalayim to present Him to יהוה — as it has been written in the Torah of יהוה, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called set-apart to יהוה” <Num 3:13> and to give an offering according to what is said in the Torah of יהוה, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

How is this the clincher?

Let’s go to Torah.

Leviticus 12:1–6 — And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘When a woman has conceived, and has given birth to a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days, as in the days of her monthly separation she is unclean. ‘And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin is circumcised. <Luke 2:21> ‘And she remains in the blood of her cleansing thirty-three days. [33 days, plus the initial 7 = 40 days for a boy]. She does not touch whatever is set-apart, and she does not come into the set-apart place until the days of her cleansing are completed. she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. ‘But if she gives birth to a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her monthly separation, and she remains in the blood of her cleansing for sixty-six days. [14 days + 66 days = 80 days total for a girl]. ‘And when the days of her cleansing are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she brings to the priest a lamb a year old, as an ascending offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering, to the door of the Tent of Appointment.

But wait!

The passage in Luke only states a pair of doves. Let’s keep reading:

Leviticus 12:8 — ‘And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one as an ascending offering and the other as a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’ “

Huh?

Yoseph was poorer than dirt. Miriam was barely not a child anymore. This couple would return to Nazareth because they could not afford to live in the city. So, they brought two doves because they could not afford a lamb! That doesn’t sound like two people who were just visited by some wise men bearing extremely valuable gifts!

Yoseph was selected BECAUSE he was righteous — this means obedient to YHVH from his heart. He would not have cheated the Father from the sacrifice of a lamb (in its first year) if he could afford it with the valuable gifts his son received (or that lamb those thieving shepherds brought him 😜).

He was still dirt poor on the 40th day after the birth.

So, not only are we not told how many wise men visited, with careful study of the Scriptures we can clearly see — when coupled with study of Torah — that Yoseph and Miriam were:

1) obedient to Torah,

2) not wealthy from the expansive gifts of the magi received within the first 40 days or so,

and 3) humble in their spirit and glorified Elohim.

After they receive the gifts — during Yeshua’s second year — they are told to escape to Egypt until after Herod the Great dies.

So, the answers to the questions at the beginning are:

Miriam and the baby Yeshua were present when the wise men visited. No one else is mentioned.

AND

No specified number of wise men visited, only that four of their gifts were notated in the text.

In this lesson you have learned when they visited, the time of year Yeshua was born, and that his parents were Torah obedient and faithful — and poorer than dirt at first.

What else did you learn that you had never learned before?

Originally published at https://aminoapps.com.